Old Habits Die Hard
by Sparky Young Upstart
Summary: Ward is on trial, and Coulson's team must testify against him. But the appearance of a presumed-dead HYDRA agent and Ward's ensuing escape make things much more complicated. Now the team must track Ward down while keeping their attorney Jennifer Walters in the dark, and Ward must finally choose a side. Sequel to "The Mercenary", and part of my ongoing SHIELD series.
1. I'm Not Afraid of Monsters, Mr Ward

**This story is a sequel to my previous SHIELD fic, "The Mercenary". If you want an enhanced reading experience then it helps to go read that. Otherwise, here are the important points you need to know for reading this story.**

**- Fitz is still comatose  
- Simmons and Triplett are not-quite-together  
- Coulson has recruited several new members to SHIELD 2.0, and is working with other members such as Sharon Carter on the down low.  
- SHIELD has apprehended Bob Kaminsky of HYDRA.**

**With that out of the way, let's get started on the next adventure!**

* * *

If you could ask Ward what he missed most about the outside world, it would be the fresh air.

When you were outside, and could sense the unfiltered air around you, everything made sense. You could tell be the smell where you were, and what your surroundings were. The slightest whiff of oncoming rain or snow would help you plan ahead. Everything was being moved around by the breeze and the wind, and specialists like Grant Ward could use what the wind carried to turn any situation to their favour.

Part of him grimaced at the thought that something as simple as fresh air had been boiled down to cold, plain strategy in his mind. He honestly did not want to be outside this cell because he missed feeling the breeze brush through his hair and calm him, or because the smells were so much better there than in here. It didn't matter to him, even though he knew that feeling such a way was distinctly inhuman. Skye had called him a monster, and every day he believed it more and more because he did not feel an ounce of remorse for what he had done to his team any more. The only thing he regretted was that he was not a good enough agent to avoid getting caught and thrown into this prison.

It wasn't even an important prison like the Fridge or the Raft or anything that SHIELD had previously maintained. Those had been destroyed in the civil war. No, this was a simple state-run incarceration facility reserved for your run-of-the-mill terrorists. It spoke volumes to Ward: he was not a threat. He was not the danger he had thought he was. He was not important. Garrett had made him feel important, but he was dead now.

After everything that had happened, the one thing that Ward had made progress on was how he felt about John Garrett. The man he owed everything to. Well, he still did - without Garrett, Ward would not be the sociopathic, emotionless, cold-hearted being he was today. And he hated him for it. He would kill Garrett if he was still alive. Instead he had to be content knowing that he had been taken out quite painfully.

A door opened in front of him and the two guards leading him through the prison nudged him forward. A man in an expensive suit sat on the other side of a glass wall. The guards motioned for Ward to sit in the chair and he obliged. He relished the chance for any order to be given him. In a way the prison lifestyle suited him. Ward picked up the phone and the man on the other side did the same.

"Grant Ward?" the man asked.

"Yes." Ward rasped the affirmative. His throat still felt like it had been snapped in two when he spoke. He had May to thank for that.

"Pleasure to meet you. My name is Justin Baldwin. I am your court appointed lawyer, seeing as you are in no position right now to afford one." Ward chuckled, a dry, wheezing noise. Mr. Baldwin didn't seem to notice. "That's a new scar since I saw your photo." The man gestured to the side of his own face. On Ward's face, that area was marked by a thin, jagged line running from his temple to the edge of his jaw. Ward nodded.

"Have you ever been in a prison, Mr. Baldwin?" he asked.

"Not as a prisoner, no. But I've heard of the activities one can partake in that result in those kind of wounds."

The particular activity that Ward had been involved in was a mess hall brawl that started when a rather patriotic inmate had declared Ward as a member of HYDRA and tried to tear his face off. Ward responded in kind, and in the end the hospital had more trouble patching up the first prisoner than they did with Ward.

"Your trial starts tomorrow," Baldwin continued. "I'm sure you're well aware off the deals that you have been offered?"

Ward nodded again. "I am. Though I thought that somebody would have told you that all of the HYDRA agents that I was aware of have already either been apprehended or killed." Which was true - after all, he had been closer to Garrett than HYDRA as a whole, so he never exactly went to any weekly club meetings or anything.

Baldwin shrugged. "If that's what you want to go with then it's your choice. I'm just here to make sure you get the best defence possible."

Ward smirked. "And why is that! Why would you help a domestic terrorist like me? Did they tell you how many people that I killed? That I wounded in the name of SHIELD? Did they tell you that HYDRA started as a group of very angry Nazis? Did they tell you that I was a monster?

Now it was Baldwin's turn to smile. "All that and more, Mr. Ward. But I didn't mind. And do you know why?" He leaned in close to the glass. "Because by the end of this you'll either be serving life in prison or serving the death penalty. Both of which I wholeheartedly approve of." The lawyer stood up and turned around, but he called back loud enough for Ward to hear behind the glass.

"I'm not afraid of monsters, Mr. Ward. See you tomorrow in court."

* * *

"Why are they giving him a trial?" Chelsea Kamiya asked to the others at her table. She sat between her two friends, the Sutton twins, at a table surrounded by other recent SHIELD inductees. They had all completed their training that morning - if you could call the bare minimum they were being taught training - and were celebrating in the mess hall. At least, that's what they had meant to do, but word spread quickly through the playground that soon their highest ranking members would be heading to court as witnesses in Grant Ward's trial. And when you spend all hours of the day living in a secret unofficial SHIELD base with next to no contact with the outside world, gossip was the most entertaining thing in the world.

"Like, they caught him at the Cybertek factory, with Garrett and the other Centipede soldiers," Chelsea continued. "They have piles of video evidence. Why are they wasting time on going to trial?"

"They probably need to just because of due process," stated Alex Sutton from Chelsea's left. "Otherwise he could claim that his constitutional rights are being violated, and they'd be in a whole other mess."

"It may not even be about the trial, either," responded Chris Sutton. "I bet they're hoping he gives up something about the other HYDRA agents out there. Nobody knew about Paula Allen, so there could be hundreds of other sleepers waiting out there."

"I bet they're hoping more that somebody from _our_ side slips up," piped Barbra Beaumont. "I hear that the general guy, Ross, is gonna be at the trial too." Everyone at the table grimaced. They had heard how badly General Ross had wanted to put a stop to team Coulson during the fallout of the HYDRA resurgence, and even though they had never seen the man they already had an intense distaste for him.

"I heard that he slept with somebody on the team." Everybody looked to the voice with surprise. Diego Silverman, one of the quietest of the new level-ones, barely spoke unless he was spoken to.

"Who, Ross?" Chelsea asked with surprise.

Diego shook his head. "No, Ward. I overheard a snippet of a conversation from some of the higher-ups."

"Who was it?" Chris asked excitedly. "Was it Simmons? I bet it was Simmons."

"I don't know who it was. I just heard them say '_she slept with Ward_'. That's it."

"It was probably Skye. I hear her talk about Ward a lot," said Barbra.

"Say, what else do you guys hear when you eavesdrop on your superiors?"

The rookies at the table turned to look at Skye, who was looming over them with a stern glare across her eyes. They all murmured excuses that failed to impress Skye. "I suggest you get back to work before I report this to director Coulson. After all, there are still _some_ things that need to stay classified. Understand?"

The table nodded, with quiet "Yes ma'am"s floating through the air. They sat frozen in their seats until Skye cleared her throat, which set them off running. Once they were out of the room, Skye sighed and sat down. Soon after she was joined by Simmons.

"Is it just me or did you seem especially May-esque just then?"

Skye rolled her eyes. "Well I have to earn their respect somehow. I'm only superior to them by one level know, and I only reached level-two because of technicalities. Also, the last thing I want is for unsubstantiated rumours to be spreading through the ranks."

"You're not really in a position to talk about rumours, Ms. I-think-Koenig-is-a-robot."

Skye chuckled at that. "I'd rather be famous for that than for my relationship with the traitor."

Simmons frowned and clasped her hands together. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Skye shook her head. "I've spent that last five months just talking about it. I wish I could just _do_ something about it. Get rid of all these feelings and emotions I have over him, or forget that he was ever a part of this team."

Simmons nodded. "I feel the same way sometimes. But then again, he did help us out a bit. I mean, I wouldn't be hear today if he hadn't stopped me from plummeting into the ocean."

"Yeah, and Fitz _would_ be hear if Ward hadn't sent you plummeting back there," snarked Skye. She instantly regretted it when she saw the wave of sorrow flash over Simmons' face. "Oh no, Jemma, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up."

Simmons sniffled and waved her hand "No, it's - it's fine. I went to see him this morning, I...had my little cry about it. Standard procedure."

Skye nodded. "How is he?"

"His vitals are all the same. Which is preferable to them being worse than before, I suppose, but..." She inhaled deeply. "Never mind that now. Are you nervous about testifying?"

Skye shook her head. "Not really. All I have to do is say what a dickwad Ward is - in more professional terms, of course. The only thing I'm concerned about is Ross being there, trying to throw us under the bus."

"We were cleared of all charges of treason, they told us that when they summoned us," Simmons responded. She was the one who had received the communique from the outside world, requesting the presence of the arresting SHIELD agents at the trial to ensure everything was recorded properly.

"Yeah, well, we're still exactly the biggest celebrities at the moment." Skye crossed her arms on the table and slumped forward. "I hope we get a good lawyer at least."

* * *

**Off to a slow start. Fear not, the action will pick up soon enough. Like last time, bonus points for spotting immigrants from the comics-universe! And don't forget to favourite and review!**


	2. Busy Doing Bad Stuff

May looked at the paper he was holding, then back at the lawyer. "I'm looking for a Mr. Gregory Walters?"

The mousy-looking woman standing in front of her nodded. "Um, yeah, the 'Mr. Gregory' part would be the mistake. I transitioned a few years ago, but nobody at the office seems to want to update any of the contact information..." she trailed off, biting her lip nervously. "I go by Jennifer Walters now."

May nodded in understanding. "Well, that's a shame your practice operates that way. Still, your number was at the top of the list of lawyers to contact for S.H.I.E.L.D. related events, so clearly you're doing something right."

"I would hope so." Ms. Walters opened a file by her desk and began rifling through it. "After my big case defending my cousin I had Fury calling me up at least once a week asking me to work for him or his employees. Of course he stopped after he died..." she paused. "Sorry to hear about that."

May waved her off. "It's fine. What did your cousin do that got Fury's attention?"

"He kinda broke...Harlem. Ah, here we go." She pulled out a file and dropped it onto her desk. "This is everything I have on Grant Ward from previous cases I was involved with, along with everything I was forwarded by the D.A., the NSA, the FBI, Stark industries, and the Kremlin."

May tilted her head to take in the thickness of the file. "He's been busy."

"Yeah, busy doing bad stuff. When you look at all this supposed 'hard work' in the light of his betrayal, everything looks pretty suspect. We've basically got an airtight case against him here, but if there's anything that you wanted to put in here yourself this is as good a time as any. "

May nodded and handed Walters a sheaf of paper from under her arm. "These are the after-actions reports from after each of my team's missions. I wrote the majority, though some contain commentary from other agents."

Ms. Walters gave a small smile. "I'm not sure if the rest of the government would like it if they heard that you're still calling yourselves agents."

May shrugged. "It's mostly honorary at this point. There isn't anything major in them that we found, but like you said before, in hindsight it all looks suspicious." She handed Walters the papers. "Sorry we couldn't have been more help with you. If that's everything -"

"Actually, there is one other thing." Jennifer shrugged awkwardly. "Nothing that you weren't already aware of, I'm sure. Just that the D.A. wanted me to remind you that part of the deal, along with dropping all charges and you all testifying, was that you were to cease all S.H.I.E.L.D.-related activities immediately."

May narrowed her gaze. "And you suspect that we haven't complied with that?"

Ms. Walters raised her hands innocently. "Sorry, I didn't mean to accuse you of anything. It's just that from what I read about your team, you all seemed to have gone to great lengths to continue doing S.H.I.E.L.D.'s dirty work even after ordered under military retaliation to cease and desist. You seem to be the type of people who don't like giving up on their ideals." She looked downward, crossing her arms. "Even when it's against their better interests. I'm sure you think that continuing your work would be for the best, but it's only going to make problems for everyone if you try to keep playing your secret agent game."

May nodded and moved to exit the office. "Don't worry Ms. Walters. You have my word that me and my team have cut all ties with S.H.I.E.L.D."

* * *

Bob Kaminsky of HYDRA sat nervously in a S.H.I.E.L.D. lie detector, deep inside a S.H.I.E.L.D. base, across from a pair of seasoned S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Phil Coulson and Antoine Triplett.

"You think this machine will make me betray my cause? Ha! You'll have to try harder than that...losers." Despite the bravado in his voice, the HYDRA agent squirmed nervously in his seat and his eyes glanced around the room in fear.

Triplett rolled his eyes as he booted up the machine. "Whatever you say. We just need to see how much information we can get out of you before we tie you up and drop you off at the nearest state penitentiary."

"What colour is your hair?" Coulson asked brightly.

"What? It's, uh...brown?"

The two glanced at the machine's read outs. Despite Kaminsky's rapidly pounding heart rate, there was no lie detected. They had a baseline.

"Awesome." Triplett said. "Alright Bob, what is HYDRA planning?"

Bob grinned maniacally. "The same thing we've always been planning. In order to save the world we need to remove mankind's freedom and place it in the hands of a capable leader."

"What do you consider a capable leader?" Phil asked, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth in an attempt to be personable.

"Somebody ruthless. Somebody unafraid to destroy those who get in their way to victory." Bob's eyes glimmered, loving the opportunity to talk about his commander. "She will rule the world with an iron fist and guide humanity towards a golden age!"

Triplett looked up from the readout. "So your leader's a woman?" he inquired.

Bob's face went pale and his smile faded. "Huh? No! No I...I didn't..."

Coulson frowned. "You kinda did. Sorry. So what's she like, this new HYDRA leader of yours?"

Bob shook his head furiously. "Uh uh, now way, I am not telling you guys a single thing about her...or him." Bob glanced between the two, foolishly hoping that he had somehow duped them.

"Alright, we'll talk about something else," continued Coulson. "How do you all plan to take over the world?"

"I _said_ I'm not telling you anything else!"

Triplett glared at the captured agent. "Silence isn't going to help you, Bob. We have ways of making you talk."

Coulson pursed his lips and turned around, walking to stand beside Triplett while keeping his back to the prisoner. "Actually, we don't have ways of making him talk. We're not Gitmo and the closest thing to a torture device that Koenig put in here is the defective coffee machine."

Triplett paused, then nodded. He looked back to Bob. "Excuse us," he said with a smile. He turned and left the room with Coulson in tow. Bob watched them as the door closed, and as soon as it clicked shut he began to struggle against his restrains. Every twitch and wiggle elicited a groan of frustration from the man. After several minutes of futile writhing, he settled back down and tried to catch his breath.

"Hello?" he called nervously.

Outside, Coulson and Triplett observed the man's actions through the security feed. "How are we not breaking this guy?" Coulson griped. "He's the most incompetent agent of anything I've ever seen, and I've been around for years."

"Maybe he's so stupid he doesn't even realize he should be concerned?" Triplett suggested. "Or beyond that, so stupid that they just didn't tell him anything."

Coulson shook his head. "He had a squad of trained HYDRA specialists under his command at the airfield, and Dr. Allen knew him by name. He may not be the highest ranking agent they have, but he's definitely important enough to know something." He sighed as Bob began to try and escape a second time. "This level of terribleness can't just be a act."

Triplett shrugged. "Hey, maybe we just need time. It may have been a nearly a week, but at least we found out that the new HYDRA leader is female now."

Coulson nodded. "True. Still, he only let that go because he was on the verge of fanboying about her." He crossed his arms, then paused. "Maybe that's what we need?" Triplett raised an eyebrow as Coulson went on. "He needs to get excited enough to want to talk about what he's doing with HYDRA. I mean, he's clearly incredibly invested in their goal. If we can find somebody that he can brag to, maybe we'll get something out of him."

Triplett thought it over in his head, then said "It could work. But the only person I imagine he'd brag to is a HYDRA agent."

Coulson smiled. "Or a failed HYDRA agent."

It took a moment, but then Triplett understood. "Nice idea, boss."

"Thank you," Coulson replied with a grin. He then reentered the interrogation room.

"Back already?" Bob said with a facade of toughness. "Going to try and break me again?"

Coulson reached into his coat pocket. "Nah, we're just gonna do this." He pulled out his I.C.E.r and pointed it at Bob, who shrieked like a child before being put out cold.

Triplett moved in and began unstrapping the unconscious body from the chair. "Night night."

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Introducing some more Marvel characters! Well, character. And if you don't know who Jennifer Walters is then I'm very disappointed in you.**

**As for the last chapter, AnonymousRex gets a half-point for knowing that Justin Baldwin is a Marvel lawyer. Specifically, he's the father of Robbie Baldwin, aka Speedball. The S.H.I.E.L.D. recruits, however, are all OCs. I decided to not base them on any existing characters because the main team aren't from the comics either, and I liked that synergy.**


	3. I Haven't Let my Guard Down Since I Died

The courtroom was surrounded by news reporters. It was a big story, after all: the rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. agents coming out of hiding to defend themselves - or get thrown right into the cells they were trying to avoid when they went on the lam in the first place. Fortunately the court had had the foresight to bring in extra security, which meant Skye, Jemma, Triplett and May could leave their van without incident. As soon as they had managed to get past the crowds and entered the building, they were met with a frazzled looking Jennifer Walters.

"Sorry we're late. Traffic was bad and, well, there's kind of a mob outside." Triplett smiled, but Walters didn't seem to acknowledge it.

"Wear's the other agent?" she demanded instead. Triplett tilted his head in confusion.

"What other agent? Fitz? He's -"

"Yes, I know he's int he hospital with a brain injury," Walters replied anxiously. "I'm talking about Phil Coulson!" She held up a folder and flapped it in Trip's face to emphasize her point.

The group of agents shared a collective look of confusion before Skye stepped between Trip and the lawyer. "Agent Coulson is, um, well he's ill."

Walters ran a hand threw her hair at the news. "Ill? He's ill? Of course he's ill, on the day of his trial to see how he and his team of rogue agents performed while apprehending a domestic terrorist!" She paused a moment to catch her breath. "What does he have?"

"Bird flu," the four agents answered in rehearsed unison. "It's really bad," Skye continued. "He woke up this morning and he was really pale and the first thing he did was throw up all over the bathroom and he jus totally cleaned out the medicine cabinet for painkillers but that didn't help, and then he was like 'Skye, help me get ready for the trial' and I was like 'no way AC, you need to get your rest because I do not want you throwing up on the judge', and then he puked again, and then he passed out." Skye threw up her hands in defeat. "So, yeah, now he's at the same private hospital that w put Fitz in and he's getting treated right now, so hopefully he'll be fine later if there's any paperwork that you need him to fill out."

Jennifer took a moment to take everything in before she responded. "Okay. Bird flu. I certainly hope he didn't pass it on to any of you."

"OH NO!" Jemma said, scurrying up to stand beside Skye. "_I _applied the. Vaccinations. Myself, to make sure of the..._health_ of my friends!" She finished on a smile wide enough that it must have hurt her face.

"Yeah, we're all gonna be okay, and before I left him at the hospital he said that he didn't want anybody to know except for the people who needed to, so if you could just like, not mention him being sick to the press or the judge or anybody passing by then that would be great. Or even just not mention his name. Just, like, pretend he doesn't exist."

Jennifer nodded, mouthing the word 'okay' several times, but her face was read and she looked pretty uncomfortable. Skye frowned. "Are you okay?"

Jennifer shook her head and began fanning herself. "Um, no, I think I'm just, I've just got some nerves about this whole thing and with your compatriot missing then I'm scared we might have some issues in the trial..." she trailed off, quickly losing her composure. Skye grimaced and led her over to a nearby bench so she could sit down.

"Okay, calm down. Everything is going to be fine." Skye looked her in the eye. "You don't need to panic like this, okay? I heard that you had worked on lots of S.H.I.E.L.D. cases before this one. This won't be any different."

Jennifer was almost hyperventilating. "I don't know, I mean, the S.H.I.E.L.D. cases were the biggest thing I got at my practice, and I'm pretty sure that if I screw this up then they're going to let me go. I mean, they barely like me there anyways..."

Skye grabbed the other woman's hands in her own and squeezed them tight, hoping it would comfort Jennifer. "Hey. Listen. There is no way they'll let you go. And you know why?" The lawyer shook her head. "It's because you're awesome. You would never have been recommended to us if you didn't have the skill to deal with these kinds of cases. Now take a deep breath." Jennifer inhaled, shakily but deeply, and then exhaled slowly. Skye smiled. "There. You're gonna be great."

Jennifer took a few more breaths, then nodded. "Okay. Okay, I will. Sorry about me being a blubbering mess."

Skye shook her head. "Don't worry about it. People get scared."

Ms. Walters smiled. "Thank you. I can't remember the last time somebody talked to me like that." She dabbed at her cheek, were a few tears had been running a moment before. "I, um, I should fix my makeup before we start the trial, though. Excuse me." She darted away to the lady's room, leaving Skye sitting on the bench.

"And I thought she was the one who was supposed to be helping us," Trip commented as he approached her.

Skye stood up and looked towards the washroom. "She just needed a pep talk. Heck, I'm surprised I'm not as messed up as she is."

Triplett half-smiled. "We're S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Whenever we get messed up we just stuff it deep down and act professionally." He paused. "And if anybody would cry at one of these things it'd be Fitz."

Skye nodded. "Totally Fitz."

A few feet away, May was checking her communicator. Jemma leaned over her shoulder to see.

"Don't. Loom." May stated as she felt the younger agent's hair brush against her neck. Jemma immediately jumped back.

"Sorry! Sorry. I just wanted to know if there were any status updates."

May didn't move her eyes from the screen of the communicator. "All of the bugs on Kaminsky are functioning, and they are ten minutes away from the holding area."

"And do you really think Kaminsky will talk to Ward about all the important HYDRA plans?"

May's brow twitched. "We can only hope."

* * *

The plan was to bug Kaminsky using some of the new prototypes included in Fury's cube. They were sub-cutaneous, almost undetectable by any tracing device, and could self-destruct with the push of a button without losing any evidence thanks to an exclusive 5G streaming network (patent pending). At least, that was the theory - during the events of the HYDRA attack on the Triskelion there was a massive information leak and every secret, blueprint, and file in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s records had been released to the public. So along with the fact that various communications networks were attempting to claim the rights to the use of the new technology without S.H.I.E.L.D. to take it as it's own, Coulson had to worry about the possibility that several institutes had already equipped themselves to find the kinds of espionage devices that this entire plan hinged on.

Said plan went as such: Bob Kaminsky, being a huge HYDRA fanatic and a bit of an idiot, would never talk to an agent such as Coulson or his specialists, in this case Agent Bolewa from the East African HQ. However, he would certainly love to talk to a genuine HYDRA agent about all the amazingly terrible things that could be accomplished by taking over the world. The only known HYDRA agent that the team knew of _and_ knew the exact location of was Grant Ward.

The trial was still thirty minutes away, which gave Coulson and Bolewa a small window in which they could leave Kaminsky alone with Ward, record the conversation, and then turn the former into the law enforcement agencies while they made off with whatever intel they managed to gather.

It was a long shot, but it was all they had in this situation.

"Where are you taking me?" Kaminsky asked, his head whipping this way and that and making the bag over it comically flap back and forth.

"That's for us to know and you to find out," Coulson replied, and with a press of a button a wall descended between he front and back seats of the van.

"Are we sure this is a good idea sir?" Bolewa asked.

Coulson remained mostly expressionless. "I asked everybody if they had a better idea. This is our only shot. If we miss it then we're back to square one."

The other agent pursed her lips. "Still, it is risky. Not just because there may be no intel gained, but because we are placing two trained HYDRA agents in a room together without any supervision. They are crafty, as we have seen time and again." Coulson parked the van and the two got out. "I remember a mission in Wakanda that I did back when S.H.I.E.L.D. was what it once was. We sent in a former spy that had supposedly defected to our side in order to investigate a terror organization."

Coulson opened the doors of the van to retrieve their prisoner. "And what happened?"

"He returned with a bomb built into his ribcage. His last words were a declaration of martyrdom." Bolewa regarded Kaminsky with contempt. "Don't get me wrong, I do not believe that something so drastic will occur here, but I do not believe we should let our guard down either."

"You don't need to worry about that, Bolewa," Coulson replied. "I haven't let my guard down since I died."

* * *

Ward sat in the interrogation room, watching dust float through the beams of sunlight that filtered through the small window in the corner. They had placed him in there so soon before his trial because apparently somebody wished to speak with him. He figured it was likely his lawyer trying to get him to accept the deal a final time and save everybody their time and energy. What was the point though? Of any of it? If the American justice system was as just as it claimed to be then Ward should have been dead by now, and he knew it. Pathetic.

The door opened, and a man in a high-collared trenchcoat stepped through. Ward raised an eyebrow in confusion. This mouse-faced, balding man was certainly not Mr. Baldwin. The man sat down and adjusted his tiny glasses.

"Good morning, Mr. Ward," he said in a European accent, "and hail HYDRA."

Ward coughed. "Do you know how many people I've heard say that in prison? I don't get why everybody is so keen on turning it into a joke."

The man's face remained emotionless. "I assure you, Mr. Ward, it is no joke."

Now Ward's curiosity was piqued. A genuine HYDRA agent come to see him? "Alright then. Who the hell are you?"

The man paused, then smiled. "I am Dr. Arnim Zola. Pleasure to meet you."

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Oh snap!**

**I loved writing this chapter. It was one of the most vivid ones I had in my head when thinking up this episode. Remember to fav, follow, and review!**


	4. Hurt Them Harder

"Zola?" Ward scoffed. "I've heard about him. He died way back in the fifties, so excuse me for doubting you."

Zola frowned. "You believe that so certainly, even after all you have seen?" The man held up a gloved hand and began to pull at the fingers, loosening it. "You should know by now that there are many ways to cheat death these days. One can be saved by their anger, be preserved by science, be resurrected by the blood of foreign species..." he pulled the glove off, revealing a skeletal and mechanical hand, flexing the fingers as Ward starred in awe. "Or even live life as a line of code." He twirled the glove around, and it glided through the space where his head should be. Ward jumped back in surprise. He now saw that Zola's face was not a face at all, but rather a hologram. Looking closely he could see small flickers and translucent areas in the face. Zola smiled, placing the glove back on his hand.

"Don't get me wrong, it would seem Death would especially like me to perish. My original body did die when you thought it did, but prior to that my mind was uploaded onto one of the first computer systems at the S.S.R. In that form I survived as Artificial Intelligence and hid myself in several systems. Mr. Rogers believes I was destroyed with the terminal he found me at, but that was merely a setback."

Ward nodded. "So now you've gotten a body of your own?"

"Courtesy of HYDRA. It is true what they say about the heads growing back." He gestured towards his own face. "Though not necessarily in a literal sense, of course."

Ward smirked. "How nice for you. Now what are you doing here? If it's to recruit me into HYDRA, you're a bit out of luck. I only joined because I was following Garrett. Now that he's dead I'm not exactly interested."

Zola paused, then frowned again. "You might want to choose your words carefully, Mr. Ward. I am your only chance at freedom."

"And what if I don't want to be free?" Ward snapped back. "What if this is exactly where I belong? After everything I've done - all the lies, all the murders, all of the betrayal, why shouldn't this be exactly where I stay?" He breathed heavily, ignoring the pains in his throat from talking so much. "Besides, I wouldn't even be free. I would be working for you all over again."

"You would be a soldier," Zola replied sternly. The man - no, not a man, the _machine_ - was completely unfazed by Ward's outburst. "You would be another gear in our machine of change. Do not try and convince me that you would rather die than be out there working for the greater good. We have been watching you." Zola's face flickered again, then changed to a video of Ward. All of the images came from missions he had done for S.H.I.E.L.D. in the past.

"How did you get this?" he asked.

"The advantage of having many heads is many sets of eyes. Slipping past us is...difficult. Especially when we take an interest in you." His face returned. "From a young age you have displayed a tendency to lash out towards those who stand in your way, because you truly believe that the world is unjust. You take justice into your own hands and have spent your life eliminating those who would get in the way of your perfect world order. You are a perfect example of an agent of HYDRA."

Ward was silent for several moments, his mind spinning. Was this guy serious? Did he think he could psycho-analyze Ward from a few surveillance clips? Sure, he'd taken things into his own hands as a child, but that wasn't because he was trying to enact justice on people.

...But his brother was cruel and sadistic, his parents ignored him, and they needed...they needed to be shown that their actions had consequences. The entire epiphany had come to him in the middle of the night at the military academy. Ward spent too long being scared of their abuse to realize that the only way they would learn was if he hurt them back. Hurt them harder. Without saying a word he got dressed and snuck out of the building. He stole the first car that he came across and kept on driving until he found the house. It was probably empty - on a night like this, his family was most likely in some other rich asshole's house chugging wine and inserting recreational drugs into their bodies. The perfect time to hit them back.

He could still remember the smell of gasoline as it poured out of the canister and splashed against the sides of the house. It wouldn't be enough, though. The hide-a-key was in the same place as always, and with a single twist Grant got inside and began to soak the main floor in the liquid. It smelled terrible, but Grant was too excited at the thought of what he was doing. Kick him out of his own home and force him into hell? Fine. He'd do the same to them.

Once the canister was empty, Grant went back outside and found his lighter. As he prepared to light the blaze, he wondered if he was making a mistake. If this wasn't just another cruel action like the ones his parents and his brother had done. Then he saw a light flick on upstairs in his older brother's room. A silhouette moved behind the curtains. Grant thought back to all of the horrible things he had endured because of the monsters that called themselves his family, and knew that he was different. His actions were justified.

Click went the lighter. Boom went the house.

"Think of all the little boys and little girls."

Zola's voice brought Ward back out of his memories. "Imagine all of the children who have been hurt by their families. Their parents. Their brothers. Don't you think you owe them the chance that you received? The chance to escape their hells and become stronger like you have?"

Ward knew that Zola's eyes were just hologram, but they were piercing all the same. He would have you believe that he thought long and hard about his answer, but the truth is that it came almost immediately.

"Alright. Hail HYDRA."

Coulson and Bolewa were just outside the door to the interrogation cell when an explosion rocked the building. The door itself was blown off it's hinges and flew towards the two agents, who only just had enough time to dodge out of the way. In the courthouse, the rest of the team looked around in surprise, fearing that the worst had happened.

"What the hell was that?!" Jennifer whispered. Her clients didn't respond, they simply ran outside to see what had happened.

Coulson had an excellent view of what had happened. He could see Ward running across the parking lot, with a figure in a long black trenchcoat following after him. He stood up and drew his weapon and his communicator. "This is Coulson. Ward has escaped!"

Those words were enough to set May, Triplette, and Skye running towards the holding area. They could barely see anything from the smoke, but they recognized their former comrade's figure as soon as he emerged from the debris cloud. Trip wasted no time in firing at the man, but Ward was just as tactical as he was - as soon as he knew he was being fired at he dove behind a nearby vehicle for cover. The newly minted HYDRA agent turned to look at his rescuer.

"Are we supposed to just sit here or do we have an escape plan?" he shouted over the cries of panic from civilians.

Zola examined the situation. "We have come prepared." He rolled the sleeve of one of his arms up, revealing a control panel built into the mechanical limb. He pressed a few buttons, then turned to Ward. "Time to go, Mr. Ward. B-BST can deal with your former compatriots." The android grabbed Ward's arm and began dragging him away from the scene before he could respond.

Coulson spotted the duo and was about to follow them when a pair of van doors burst off of their vehicle and flew past him. Turning in the direction from which they came, Coulson witnessed a mechanical shape emerge from the van. It looked almost humanoid - two arms with weapons built in, and a module at the top that resembled a head. It's legs, however, were fourfold and spread out in a crab-like stance. The cranial module looked around before spotting Coulson and training its weapons on him.

"**YOU ARE S.H.I.E.L.D. YOU ARE ENEMY OF HYDRA. YOU SHALL BE ELIMINATED.**"

"Man I miss the days when they were just spying on us," Coulson groaned as he turned to run. Behind him, the ground began to erupt as energy blasts launched from the machine's weapons and collided with the asphalt of the lot.

The machine was between Coulson and his other teammates, but with Coulson occupying it's attention the others were able to approach undetected. "Do we have anything with us that can take it down?" Skye asked Maya and Trip.

Trip holstered his I.C.E.r and pulled out a different, larger pistol. "Something Coulson asked me to bring in case a situation like this came up." He pulled the trigger and, instead of a bullet, a blast of concussive energy fired from the muzzle of the weapon.

It collided with the back of the robot's head, causing it to pause. Then it began to transform. A second module emerged from the top of the first head, and a second pair of arms emerged from a compartment in it's back. The new module and weapons directed themselves directly at the three other agents.

"**YOU ARE S.H.I.E.L.D. YOU ARE ENEMIES OF HYDRA. YOU SHALL BE ELIMINATED.**"

"That could have worked out better," Skye muttered.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter is shaping up to have a lot of character stuff, I've noticed. I really do enjoy writing that kind of thing and getting into the other character's heads like that.**

**Anyway, there's another Marvel character in this chapter! Pretty obvious to spot since I did name them (sorta). Still, points to those who know what it is. And keep your reviews coming! They give me live, as per usual :)**


	5. I Am So Fired

Simmons had pulled Jennifer behind a group of vehicles for their own protection. Behind her she could hear screams of terror and the sounds of gunfire. She carefully peaked over the hood of the car to see what was happening.

Her teammates were trying to circle the machine, but thanks to it's twin sensors it was able to take on both groups at once. Even Trip's weapon wasn't having that much of an effect.

"Oh my god, is this what you guys have to deal with?" Jennifer exclaimed. "How are you not dead yet?"

"Well we normally handle the situations a tad quicker than this time!" she replied. Her eyes didn't waver from Triplette. She was scared for all of them, of course, but there was something between her and Triplette. She didn't know what it was, and she certainly wasn't going to put a name on it (especially with what had happened with her and Fitz before he went into a coma), but there was an undeniable connection. And right now she was more concerned about Triplette getting hurt than anybody else there.

"Shouldn't you be helping them?" the lawyer asked. Jemma turned to look at her.

"What can I do? I'm just - just a scientist." She balled her fist. She was powerless, and she was angry, and she wished she could help them, but all she could do right now was wait. Wait and hope.

* * *

"What's that thing supposed to do anyway?" Skye asked Triplette as they dove for cover.

Triplette looked at the weapon. "Coulson said it was reverse engineered from some Stark tech they acquired."

"Oh, and you don't think HYDRA would try their best to make their robots resistant to _Iron Man_?!" she shouted with as much sarcasm as she could muster.

"Sorry my _laser beam gun_ isn't up to your standards!" he snapped back.

An explosion sounded behind them, and May careened over them and landed with a crunch in front of them. She was covered in ash and bruises, but the woman was implacable. She didn't hesitate to stand up and look at her teammates. "Give me that," she said coldly, and Trip handed it over. She grabbed the gun and began to run towards the droid.

As soon as it saw her it began to fire, but before the bullets kid hit her she dove forward and rolled until she was beneath the machine's legs. She immediately began to fire upwards, into the space where it began to split in two. This part had significantly less armour than the rest of the body, and now the blasts began to do some damage. Once the machine began to stumble she fired two quick shots at one of it's legs before rolling again. The droid collapsed to the ground and would have crushed her if she was a second slower.

The droid couldn't walk, but it could still fire. It began to look around wildly with both heads before spotting May on the pavement. She lay there, still, immobile, helpless. Skye realized this and jumped up to pull her away, but the machine was already training every weapon it had on the agent. In just a few moments she would be a casualty...

The SUV couldn't have been going that fast, but it had a lot of weight to it and was enough to knock the droid over and dislodge a good portion of its armour. That's not to say the vehicle faired much better, since it's front end was a crumpled mess and every single airbag had burst out of the vehicle's interior. A few muffled cries came out before they were torn away, revealing Jennifer in the passenger seat and Simmons behind the wheel, both of them panting heavily.

"That...that was very illegal," Jennifer wheezed. After a few moments to refill her lungs, she spoke again. "Where did you learn to hotwire a car?" she asked the scientist.

"Would you believe that I used to be a punk kid in the mean streets of London?" Jemma asked with a partial grin.

Jennifer shook her head. "No, not really."

Jemma nodded. "Yeah, you're right, I learned it off tumblr."

Agent Bolewa walked over to the droid. It was struggling to upright itself and locate it's targets. One of it's heads was smashed in, and the other one was knocked off of it's socket. Bolewa reached down and ripped the wires out. Finally the body lay still. The agent picked up the head and looked at it. The eyepiece still frantically swung from side to side before looking at her.

"**YOU ARE S.H.I.E.L.D. YOU ARE ENEMIES OF HYDRA. YOU SHALL BE ELIMINATED.**"

"Quiet you." She took the butt of her gun and smashed the eyepiece off.

"**VISION IMPAIRED. VISION IMPAIRED. VISION IMPAIRED.**"

Bolewa rolled her eyes. "Hey Skye, this one's for you." She tossed the head to the girl, who was kneeling by May's body.

May herself had regained conciousness, but felt just as bad as she looked. "I think I broke my ribs," she said. She sounded annoyed more than anything else.

"Yeah, well, I think you broke your everything." Triplette replied. He had run back to the SHIELD vehicle once the droid was down and had come back with an automated gurney. "Can't believe we've only had this thing for a week and we already need to use it. Up we go."

Jennifer and Jemma stumbled out of the vehicle. "Well, now that thing is down, anybody feel like explaining what the hell is going on?" Jennifer said with exasperation.

Skye frowned. "That...is a really good question." She turned back to the head, already thinking about how best to hack into the AI running the thing.

"Is anybody going to answer it?" Jennifer asked. Skye turned back to her.

"Oh!...um, yeah, thing with SHIELD is that some questions don't necessarily get answered right away."

"You're not SHIELD anymore!" the lawyer cried. The gathered agents all shared an awkward glance with each other, and Jennifer took a step back. "Oh my god. You're still doing missions. That...this...this case was already mess, and now...I am so fired." She slowly sank down until she was sitting on the gurney looking just as bad as May, if not worse.

"Well...if you are, you know, SHIELD is always hiring," Jemma suggested. It was clear that Jennifer was too caught up in her own thoughts to respond.

"Hey guys?" Trip asked. "Where's Coulson?"

* * *

A white, featureless truck drove down the highway. It didn't speed, and it stopped at every red light and stop sign. Inside sat a terrorist fugitive and a robot.

"The first rule of running away is don't run," commented Zola, one arm resting on the steering wheel. Ward wondered if it really needed rest. Maybe resting it's battery. Conserving energy to keep projecting that eerie hologram. Ward felt ill looking at it for too long. If he tilted his head the wrong way it became translucent. And sometimes it glitched. The face would shift unnaturally, or vanish for a moment, or be replaced by somebody else's. He had seen a random older man appear, a small child, even the Red Skull was there for a moment. He turned his head to look out the window, where the view was much less disturbing.

"I know that. It's the first thing we're taught in SHIELD academy."

"Ah, but it is a HYDRA rule as well. So many of your SHIELD protocols were designed by us." He smiled that artificial smile of his. "Did you know that I was the one who came up with the designation 0-8-4?"

Ward rolled his eyes. "Are we even going anywhere, or is this just a road trip spiced up with HYDRA trivia?"

"Oh, do not worry Mr. Ward. I am taking you to see the new commander of HYDRA. She is quite a treat. I think you will like her!"

The man and the machine drove the rest of the way in silence. Neither of them noticed Agent Coulson clinging to he underside of the vehicle, listening to their every word.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I haven't stopped! I just took a really long break! I am definitely going to finish this. I'm debating whether to right he rest of this series, since the new season is so close, or if to just do a bunch of side stories instead.**

**Also, yes, the B-BST droid is the Bibeast. I gave it a makeover because oh my god have you seen that thing in the comics? It's ridiculous.**

**I just want to take this space to also comment on how AMAZING Guardians of the Galaxy is, and now I can't wait for Age of Ultron. Also I think we should have a moment of silence for the current New Warriors series being cancelled this November. Not that the New Warriors factor heavily into these stories..._or do they?_**


	6. HYDRA Gives Weird Acronyms to Everything

Kaminsky slowly raised his head and looked around. There were wrecked cars and rubble all around him. He had heard the sounds of the fight, and he certainly _wanted_ to help, oh yes, but he figured that it was just a little _too_ dangerous for him to get involved. He was too important to HYDRA to get wounded in a skirmish like this. Yes, that was it. It had nothing to do with him being scared.

But now the fight was done and the SHIELD agents were nowhere to be seen. Kaminsky couldn't spot Ward or whoever had broken him out, but he figured they couldn't have gotten far. As stealthily as he could, he stood up and began to slink away. He had almost made it out of the parking lot before a SHIELD van pulled up in front of him and the agent that had been escorting him earlier jumped out. He let out a small yelp and spun around to run away, but his own feet got tangled together and he fell onto the ground.

Agent Bolewa picked him up by the shoulders and dragged him into the van. "You're not getting away that easily, mister. We still have questions for you."

"Oh come on!" he whined as she tossed him into the vehicle and slammed the door shut. "I don't wanna be prisoner anymore! I just want to go back to base!"

"What was the thing that attacked us?" Jemma asked from behind the wheel.

"I'll never tell! Hail HYDRA!" He tried to do the salute, but with his hands cuffed behind him all he did was yank uselessly on his shoulders.

"Ok, that was your one chance." Bolewa pulled out her I.C.E.r and put Kaminsky to sleep. "I swear, these HYDRA goons do nothing but talk."

Five minutes later, Jemma's van pulled into a diner several miles away, with a second SHIELD vehicle coming in beside them. The door opened to reveal Skye on her laptop and May on a stretcher. She was sitting up now, looking a little better than before. It helped that all SHIELD vehicles came with a supply powerful anesthetic just in case.

"Any word from Coulson?" Bolewa asked.

Skye shook her head. "Not yet. I tried tracking his communicator, but I'm not getting any activity, so there's a good chance it was damaged during the fight. But I have an idea where he might be headed." She pulled out the remains of the dried head, which had been pried open since Skye got her hands on it. "I managed to access parts of the CPU on this thing. It's called a B-BST, which stands for Battledroid - Bidirectional Shock Trooper."

Jemma shrugged. "Okay, so HYDRA gives weird acronyms to everything. What else did you find?"

"Well, I figured Coulson was either kidnapped by Ward, or he's following him. And I was able to find this." She spun her laptop around to show a map of the county. A squiggly red line was outlined on the map. "This is the GPS memory of the droid. Everywhere it's been since it was activated. This is the court house -" she pointed at one end of the line "- which means this is the point of origin. And, hopefully, where Coulson and Ward are headed."

"So it's where we're headed too," added May.

"Are you sure you don't want us to drop you off somewhere?" Trip asked from the driver's seat.

May shook her head. "There's no time. We need to stop Ward before he escapes, and we need to make sure Coulson is accounted for."

* * *

The truck slowed to a stop, and Coulson heard the doors open and close. "This way Mr. Ward," the voice said. Coulson was sure he had heard it before, but he couldn't place it. He waited a moment, then deactivated the magnetic grips he'd been using to hold on. From beneath the vehicle he saw the two men walking towards a seemingly empty warehouse. He pulled out his communicator.

"This is Coulson. Do you read me?" he spoke. There was nothing but static coming back. "This is Director Coulson. Do you read me?" Again, only static. He sighed. It must have been damaged in the fight with the robot. For now he was on his own. Alright, whatever. He had his weapons. He could handle whatever HYDRA had hiding inside that building.

Coulson crawled out from beneath the truck just in time to see one of the warehouse doors open and close. He pulled out his gun and jogged over to it, but when he tried the handle it was locked tight. He back up and tried to bust it open, but even when his shoulder crashed through he couldn't feel the door budge at all. He hadn't brought any gadgets with him - they were all back with the vehicles. Looking around, he spotted a window near the top that appeared to be unguarded.

"Alright. How long has it been since you've scaled a building Phil. A year? Two? Five?" He swung his arms back and forth in a half-assed stretch, trying to estimate how high the wall was and how many footholds it had. He wasn't afraid of heights (you can't be when half of your work is done in a plane), but he was afraid of falling, especially with nobody around to catch him. Plus it had taken him a long time to establish even the simplest muscle memories from before he died. He doubted his body had the same reflexes he'd need to get up there. He sighed. "Here goes nothing."

He too a running start and jumped as high as he could, and landed with a _*SMACK*_ on the wall. He managed to grip on a small ledge running across, and held himself there for a moment before continuing. The warehouse had almost completely vertical walls, but Coulson could fit his fingers in between where the sidings had drifted away from each other. Half of the time his feet were dangling uselessly and he could only rely on his upper body to keep himself from crashing down to the bottom. Slowly he worked his way up to the window.

He had almost made it when he put his hand down on a damaged piece of the siding. It had been torn by age or a storm or something, and now sharp bits of metal sprung up from the edge. One of those pieces drove deep into Coulson's finger, and he almost jerked his hand away before realizing that he would never be able to keep himself hanging with only one hand. What he couldn't stop was his cry of pain. Muffled as it may be by the building, he was still concerned that somebody inside had heard it. After a few seconds Coulson could hear his pulse in his head and the warm trickle of blood sliding down his finger and onto his palm. He lifted the hand, feeling the chunk of metal slice back out of the finger, and carefully reached it higher until it could clasp onto the window sill.

After all of that, climbing into the window was surprisingly easy. The glass swung open to the inside, and the beam stretching out before him was large enough to stand on. Coulson swung his feet in and place them on it, glad to have a steady surface underneath him after that last ordeal. He tore off a piece of his shirt to bandage up his finger and was just wrapping it up when he realized that he was being watched.

Slowly Coulson raised his head to meet the eyes of the HYDRA guard pointing a rifle at him. "Huh. I guess you were watching the window after all," he commented offhandedly, continuing to bandage his wound without breaking eye contact.

"Sorry to have to do this, Mr. Coulson, but orders are to shoot anybody coming in that we don't approve of." The guard shrugged, very nonchalant about the whole business.

Coulson frowned. "Cameras, I suppose?" The guard nodded. "You certainly hid them well. How do you know my name? Is HYDRA distributing my likeness now?"

The guard grinned and shook his head. "Really? You don't remember me? I'm Agent Columbus! I ran security with you way back in the day. Stark Expo? Vanko's drones?"

The SHIELD agent cocked his head and stared into the distance, trying to remember. "Well, there were a lot of agents there and it was pretty chaotic...I can't say I remember your face exactly."

The HYDRA guard groaned. "Come on man, there weren't _that_ many people with you. I told you that joke about the fish?"

Coulson shook his head. "Yeah I don't recall. Sorry."

Columbus lowered his rifle. "See, this is why I sided with HYDRA. SHIELD never appreciated - _urk!_"

As soon as the weapon was lowered, Coulson had jumped the man. In a moment Columbus was in a headlock, and after a few seconds more he had passed out. Coulson unwrapped his arm from the man's neck and let it thud to the ground. "Now I remember you. You were always lowering your weapon. Bad form." He searched the man, taking his weapon, his ID, and a keyring that he found. "The joke was funny, though."

On the other side of the beam was a ladder going down to the floor. Once Coulson had climbed down he saw...well, he didn't see much of anything. There weren't any other guards around. A small booth in the corner held monitors showing feeds from everywhere around the building's outer area. At the back, a single door stood with a card reader beside it. Coulson looked at the ID card he had lifted. It had a mag strip, likely used for going through that door. He walked over and swiped it.

The door opened, and a small room appeared to Coulson. It was completely white lit. Embossed on the back wall was the tentacled skull of HYDRA, but it somehow seemed more formal and noble. Not as sinister as it usually would. Stepping inside he saw a panel with several numbered buttons on it. An elevator, built into a false back of the building to make it look like a door back outside. Clever.

Coulson went over the buttons and spotted one that, rather than a number, had the HYDRA logo once again. "Seems like an easy choice," he muttered to himself as he pressed it.


End file.
